


A civil aspect

by Nineveh_uk



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 23:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19094995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nineveh_uk/pseuds/Nineveh_uk
Summary: Michael and Beelzebub have their own lines of communication, and their own way of dealing with traitors.





	A civil aspect

And therefore Michael and the other wore

A civil aspect: though they did not kiss,

Yet still between his Darkness and his Brightness

There pass'd a mutual glance of great politeness.

 

*

                'All these years and that snake has been working for himself. I knew those memosz were too good to be true.'

                'We didn't even get memos. Individual goodness, that's what he said he was concentrating on. Influencing one pure soul to work for the salvation of many. And all the time he's consorting with a demon to thwart the Divine Plan! What kind of hellspawn would do a thing like that? No offence.'

                'None taken. I was right behind the Divine Plan; we intended to win. But now it's - pauszed. We can't let them get away with it. Think of the morale of the troops!'

                'Discontent, stirrings in the ranks...'

                'Can't be allowed. No, they've deprived usz of our show, the least they can do is to provide a substitute....'

*

It has been remarked upon elsewhere that there is a certain tendency among agents of opposing powers stationed in remote location to realise that they have more in common with their immediate opponents than their remote allies. Not least, the question of how to get a really satisfactory starched shirt.

Less remarked upon is the necessary corollary to this: a similar contact between their respective masters. There are, of course, certain differences, at least as described by the said masters, who cite their lack of interest in personal gain, the value of maintaining political stability, their possession of sound principles, and above all the fact that their activity is authorised. Or at least authorised in the way in which such highly sensitive matters tend to be authorised, acknowledged as a regrettable necessity between organisations of differing principles, but common understanding, strictly on a need-to-know basis, and without a paper trail. These things are so easily misunderstood by the masses.

Contact is, as aforementioned, necessary and endured however much the opposition is despised, out of a common interest in keeping control of their respective agents. Occasionally, a principled agent will successfully play on their opposite number's weakness and recruit their them as a double agent. More often, the hazards of distance, disillusionment, and the desire to put one over on the boss lead to an amateur alliance of mutual interest, betrayal, and for those in charge the regrettable necessity, once discovered, of tidying things up.

In the case of the Archangel Michael and Lord Beelzebub, it had all begun with the unfortunate business of the Nephilim. It takes a while to get over landing in a lake of burning sulphur at terminal velocity, but if there's an inspiration to do so it is the threatened arrival of a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies who think that they're better than you are because they fell for entertainment rather than pride. Nor did Heaven want them back. The tentative feelers unfurled by Beelzebub had rapidly lead to a certain detente and the satisfactory solution of banishment somewhere, anywhere, else, where they wouldn't get in the way of the nice neat lines of opposition already laid out. Nonetheless, it was a trying affair. Clearly next time, it was important that things weren't allowed to get into such a state, and in view of that a certain amount of ongoing potential for communication seemed a good idea. Besides, as Michael pointed out, it also served a common interest in a providing a safe audience for rolling one's eyes at the big boss, although not, of course, the Big Boss, one party to the conversation being a horrible example as to where that led to. Then there were the things that were easier to obtain in one place rather than the other, and before you knew it you were meeting to swap briefcases and - because one should never appear to take a respected opponent for granted - drinking gin in the fire escape.

                'Bread and circuses?'

                'There's no bread in Hell.'

                'Nor Heaven, we prefer manna. But I'm sure you and your associates enjoy toast, Lord Beelzebub. I think it's high time that our erstwhile agents were made to set an example.'

                ' _Yesz_.'

                'Our observers tell us they're back in London, seen at their respective residences early this morning.'

                'What about laszt night?'

                'We have no information on that matter. In terms of picking them up, I hear that they are accustomed to meet in fine weather in St James's Park. I've got a crack team on standby, I assume you have something similar?'

                'Naturally. But - kidnapping an angel, Michael. I'm not saying we wouldn't enjoy it, but it might be misinterpreted. The war's supposzed to be suspended.'

                'Oh, I wasn't proposing for a moment that you should kidnap an _angel_.'

                'It would be more satiszfying to deal with our own traitorsz.'

                'Exactly. Although, in the interests of _pour encourager les autres_ , perhaps there is something we might borrow...'

  

**Author's Note:**

> Epigraph from Byron's _The Visit of Judgment_.


End file.
